Articles

Robotic arm as illustration to Zero Marginal Cost Municipality article

The Zero Marginal Cost Municipality

13.04.2015
The extreme productivity of modern capitalism is often seen as the opposite of ecological sustainability. In his essay in Social Ecology and Social Change, however, Jonathan Korsár argues that democratic municipalities can use productive technologies in an ecologically and socially beneficial way.
Graffitti from Rio de Janeiro protesting the world cup

Social Ecology and Contemporary Urban Struggles

09.04.2015
Social ecology has to enter into a dialogue with urban social movements, argues Federico Venturini in his contribution to New Compass' latest book Social Ecology and Social Change. Here is a short interview with Venturini and an extract from his essay in the book.
Hannah Arendt

To Think What We are Doing

08.04.2015
The environmental problems are political concerns that cannot be left to the rule of experts. Hannah Arendt's political ideas provide insight into why participatory democracy is the form of government that best will enable us to collectively address the ecological crisis.
Worker at a cooperative mill in Tirbespiye

Municipalization of the Economy

07.04.2015
As the Rojava revolution continues, the nature of its economy has been much discussed. Rojava aspires to a social economy based on cooperatives. What are Murray Bookchin’s ideas about the economy: what are the economic aspects of libertarian municipalism?
Image: people signing the Guanyem manifesto (via Guerrilla Translation).

The City as Horizon for Radical Democracy

05.04.2015
While the focus of attention among the left these days is the possibility to reclaim democracy at the state and the supranational level, there is at the same time, somewhat less visibly, a new cycle of struggles for democratic governance unfolding at the level of the city.
Protests against the Ilisu dam

Let us Communalize Land, Water, and Energy

31.03.2015
The Ilisu dam in Turkey threatens the livelihoods of up to 80.000 people, as well as rich cultural heritage sites, and the still living river ecosystem of the Tigris River. March 29th, 2015, more than 500 people protested against the destructive Ilisu Dam project in the town of Dargecit.
Better world poster image for Social Ecology and Social Change book promotion

Social Ecology and Social Change – Out Now!

27.03.2015
Our latest book is one of the most comprehensive anthologies on social ecology ever published. With contributors from both Europe and North-America, it covers a broad range of topics from utopianism and radical theory, to urban activism, energy generation and even the Italian mafia…
Image from the fire in AK Press warehouse

Fire Relief for AK Press and Friends

26.03.2015
In the early morning of March 21, the building behind AK Press caught fire. Two people lost their lives. There was extensive water and smoke damage to other units, including the ones occupied by AK Press and 1984 Printing. Now they need your help to recover.
Cap on Debt: image from David Graeber's cover

Cap on Debt

25.03.2015
Many radicals assume that capitalism simply means financial speculation, obscure bank dealings, monopolies, or interest as a way to garner income without work, in contrast to a market economy, which can be based on “honest” labor and fair exchange. But is this distinction valid?
image of consensus assembly in Occupy Wall Street

Against Consensus, for Dissensus

17.03.2015
Consensus decision-making: is it a radical liberatory idea with the power to challenge hierarchies or an unworkable fad? Is consensus worth defending if it reduces our ability to work together? What if consensus doesn’t really exist and chasing it only creates further oppressions and silences?
Street view in Amed (Diyarbakir)

Toward Green Kurdish Cities

16.03.2015
Public transportation, small-scale organic farming, walkable neighborhoods, and solar energy can be key steps toward an ecological society in Kurdistan and elsewhere. Decentralization is crucial to this process and, eventually, also to the process of establishing democratic self-government.

Naomi Klein Connects Climate to Democracy

11.03.2015
In her most recent book – This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate – Naomi Klein writes that it is not possible to save the climate without installing a participatory democracy. We provide an overview of Klein's arguments for a democratic people’s recovery.
System change, not climate change

Democracy is the Only Alternative

07.03.2015
What is most needed to address climate change and the environmental problems is to create new forms of social and political organization. The strategy of the environmental movement should therefore be to seize or create democratic power in order to create serious, political alternatives.
Mychorrhizae

Applied Mycology in Horticulture and Agriculture

03.03.2015
Today, when the world is running out of mineral phosphorus and climate change is threatening agricultural practices worldwide, Atle Hesmyr argues that the implementation of mycorrhizal symbiosis is crucial for organic horticulturalists and farmers around the world.

Rojava's Threefold Economy

01.03.2015
Rojava is going through difficult times. We have spoken to Abdurrahman Hemo, the adviser for economic development for Cizîre canton. Hemo explained what he called Rojava’s three parallel economies: the community economy, the war economy, and the open economy.

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